It is now just as likely for middle school students to die from suicide as from traffic accidents.
That grim fact was published on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They found that in 2014, the most recent year for which data is available, the suicide rate for children ages 10 to 14 had caught up to their death rate for traffic accidents.
The number is an extreme data point in an accumulating body of evidence that young adolescents are suffering from a range of health problems associated with the country’s rapidly changing culture. The pervasiveness of social networking means that entire schools can witness someone’s shame, instead of a gaggle of girls on a school bus. And with continual access to such networks, those pressures do not end when a child comes home in the afternoon.
“It’s clear to me that the question of suicidal thoughts and behavior in this age group has certainly come up far more frequently in the last decade than it had in the previous decade,” said Dr. Marsha Levy-Warren, a clinical psychologist in New York who works with adolescents. “Cultural norms have changed tremendously from 20 years ago.”
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2 comments:
10-14yo dont drive. Makes no sence.
Look at the complicated lives we lead, parents who always struggle and work,the drugged out parents. Messed up parents who have had terrible things happen to their kids or aren't present mentally to care for them. Social media, animal children ruining the schools, NO opportunity and a angry miserable public, doesn't make it hard to give up. Many kids see life that way, Sad. I feel terrible for the kids that have done this because they gave up. They gave up before they even realized how the world is, no one was there to tell them to NEVER give up.
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